Manmohan Singh represented the finest aspects of India, asserts Aakar Patel.
K Natwar Singh wore many hats as he straddled the worlds of diplomacy, politics and writing but what remained consistent across decades was his sharp-wit and plainspeaking.
The internal battle within the Obama administration seemed to have been won by Paul Volcker, the impressive and outspoken former Federal Reserve chairman who has long been a critic of financial innovation.
Obama has been talking with the world leaders in the past few weeks in this regard, and this would be his agenda at the upcoming G-20 summit at London next month, which among others would also be attended by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
At a recent White House meeting, Paul Volcker, the 81-year-old former chairman of the Fed and a part-time adviser to Barack Obama, said the president should delay revamping the US regulatory system until he had quelled the financial crisis.
Volcker said while some countries responded well to his findings, many others, particularly smaller nations, have not taken steps to deal with corruption.
The Volcker panel had named Natwar Singh, who was divested of External Affairs Ministry, and the Congress party among the non-contractual beneficiaries of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
During his tenure, Dayal will also act as the special envoy of the government of India and hence liaise with the united Nations to go into the depth of the allegations made by Volcker.
Under-Secretary-General and head of the Office for Internal Oversight Services Dileep Nair is accused of misusing funds from the UN oil for food program for Iraq.
Indian envoy arrives in New York to probe findings of Volcker panel
He said if somebody levels allegations, they should be ashamed of themselves.
Volcker, former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, is quoted as having admitted in a Los Angeles Times interview that he had agreed to change the language of his controversial report
Before releasing the September report on Annan, Volcker met Annan and his lawyer to discuss the harsh conclusion.
Volcker report: Natwar Singh rejects demand for resignation, claims PM's support
Former Federal Reserve chairman Volcker's report alleged that 1.8 billion dollars in bribes and illegal surcharges were paid to the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
He said in some cases we certainly listed the information indicated from Iraqi records
"The report has as much validity as the report by the CIA director about the alleged existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq," he said referring to the report by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve.
Justice Pathak Inquiry Authority had recently issued a second notice to Natwar Singh, his son Jagat Singh and some others in connection with the probe.
The speed at which he led the central bank in different areas -- ranging from internal reorganisation to inflation fighting, stabilising the currency, taking on rogue corporations, cleaning up bank balance sheets, and opening the sector -- makes one believe that Rajan knew he had only three years to do his job. A fascinating excerpt from Tamal Bandyopadhyay's MUST-READ Roller Coaster: An Affair with Banking.
In the new decade, the scene will change because the banks till recently had been challenged by the fintechs, but the techfins have now entered the arena, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday pitched for incentivisation of domestic savings to boost investments in the country.
The government seemed unhappy with Raghuram Rajan's interest rate policy.
According to him, since India has a low fiscal deficit, a low current account deficit and lower inflation, there is no need for being too dependent on foreign money for growth.
'Kofi Annan will be remembered more for his Nobel Prize and related glory rather than Rwanda and Volcker,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan with whom he worked in the UN.
Voices from the Treasury are clamouring for lowering rates as this would boost demand.
The expansion in equity market volumes is driven by retail speculators indulging in heavy trading of complex derivatives that are economically unproductive, say Praveen Chakravarthy and T V Somanathan.
He has had a productive first year at the RBI -- one which saw, also, India's economic imbalances improve and the unexpectedly strong general election outcome.
'She is tough. She can be stern. She can be unpleasant. Rajiv was none of these things.' 'The Congress cannot survive without the Gandhi family. If Sonia were to quit, their Lok Sabha seats would drop from 44 to four.' K Natwar Singh shares his bitterness about the Nehru family with Rashme Sehgal.
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